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THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY
OLDHAM ROYAL INFIRMARY
| Photos by Ringway Manchester | Page last updated: 2026-08-12 |
| This one is in the grounds of Oldham Royal Hospital in Greater Manchester. It sits in a small compound along with the transmitter cabinet at the entrance to the car park and belongs to Radio Cavell, an AM community station for the hospital that transmits on 1350KHz with an EMRP of just 1W. A broadcasting service at Oldham Royal first started back in the 1930’s. In the early days, hospital staff were asked to become broadcasters to run regular weekly radio programmes. Oldham has a long tradition of hospital broadcasting in fact in the mid 1930's the Matron at the Boundary Park Hospital organised regular Friday afternoon "patient entertainment broadcasts" over the 'Tannoy' system. By the 1950s, the service had expanded and programmes included football and rugby league commentaries as well as plays from Oldham's Coliseum Theatre. Radio Cavell was founded in 1971 after the team involved decided a more modern radio station was needed. The name originated from World War I nurse Edith Cavell. She was responsible for over 200 soldiers and the service is dedicated to her. In 1986 a new studio was on the cards, designed to replace the aging equipment along with an outside broadcast caravan. The £10,000 needed was raised by the station using fundraisers. Bill Naylor took over as chairman of Radio Cavell in 1987. His on-air name was Bingo Billy and he’d been with the station for 8 years before taking over as chairman from Gary Jones. By 1993, the chairman was Nigel Hobson and 40 people were involved in the running of the station, all volunteers. It was at this time that Radio Cavell was campaigning to be awarded a low power FM transmitter licence, which it ultimately wouldn’t be awarded. Fast forward to 1995 and the station got its first taste of on-air broadcasting when it launched a £10,000, 3-month campaign known as Heartbeat Radio, designed to encourage Oldhamers to look after themselves. Broadcasting on 1386khz AM, the station broadcast health messages to a projected 300,000 strong audience and ceased transmissions on November 19th, 1995. The station didn’t broadcast on the air as such until many years later. Radio Cavell became one of the first stations to operate under the new Radio Authority licence for a "freely radiating signal" that could be received on a normal radio set. They were awarded the licence in 1999 and began broadcasting on AM radio. Prior to this, Radio Cavell could only be heard at patients’ bedsides via earphones, but the new configuration allowed it to be heard anywhere within the massive hospital site. In 2000, after a six-year fundraising campaign - and a lot of hard work, Radio Cavell proudly unveiled a new reception area and modern, re-equipped studios. Although the radio signal on 1350KHz can be heard beyond the hospital site, it is a condition of the licence that they don't acknowledge this and don't seek to involve those outside 'listeners' in their broadcasts. Amazingly the signal has been logged several times beyond the hospital site as far as Scandinavia. One shortwave listener heard the station in Finland in the summer of 2002. Radio Cavell is a unique service to the Patients, Staff and Visitors to the Royal Oldham Hospital, and I hope it continues to operate for many years to come. Lifelong President and long serving volunteer Dave McGealy passed away peacefully in his sleep from Alzheimer's on 23rd October 2023, aged 74. |
| This is a great example of an LPAM (Low Power AM) stations. They have a special licence from Ofcom to allow them to broadcast to a very small area, such as a hospital, university, or army barracks. |
| The antenna is a short lattice antenna with a loading coil near the top and a capacitive hat and copper mat underneath. It sits at the entrance to one of the carparks in a small compound. |
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